Recently by Mark Read

I knew I was passing up my one last shot of heading back south.

Amy had wanted to get the boat and crew up to Florida so we could spend Christmas with my mom in Georgia.  This request required that we speed through Mexico and Cuba and then find a reasonably priced marina to leave the boat in while we rented a car and headed to Cartersville, Georgia for three weeks.

We have continued to poke down the Costa Rico border, finally having made it to Gulfito, the last stop before Panama.  As we turned into the large 20 mile wide bay which Gulfito sits in, I pointed out to both Amy and Robert a small sliver of land which ran down the back of a mountain and down to the sea.  I told them that that skinny piece of land was Panama.

Amy broke out into the David Lee Roth song, "Panama."  She told us she had been waiting an eternity to be able to sing that.  Robert quickly learned the words, added his own dance and then modified the tune to "Panama Canal".  It appears the crew is excited to be getting closer to Panama.

Since arriving in Costa Rica, we have had the "opportunity" to learn A LOT about various animals and insects. 

In one day Amy made a list of "friends" we currently had visiting in our home.  A mouse, one brilliant blue/green moth, several small translucent crabs which had crawled up our drain pipe into our bathroom sink, one medium size crab which has taken a liking to our rear swim step locker, and a small gathering of fruit flies in our refrigerator.

Having been boarded by the Mexican Navy for the last time, we left Puerto Madero on Saturday February the 16th, just as the sun was going down and 5 hours behind our friends on Ogopogo. 

We faced a dilemma on where we should try and stop.  Neither choice was a good one.  Our first option was to make a relatively short trip to Guatemala and stay at the mediocre Marina Pez Vela in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.  The advantage was that is was close to both Guatemala City and the active volcano we had promised Robert he could see up close.

On January 17th, we departed from our overnight stay in Papanoa, and headed for Acapulco with our traveling buddy boat, motor vessel Michelle. 

On November 27th, 2007 we sailed into Zihuatanejo Bay, Mexico with no autopilot.  We thought we would only be there a few days until our troubles of a broken autopilot were solved.  50 days later, on January 16th, 2008, we left Zihuatanejo for Papanoa, and ultimately Acapulco still with no autopilot.

This has come to define how we travel.  Going all the way back to our first "incident" in Galveston Bay, Texas, we have found that we surge between repairs.  Calpurnia and her crew will travel until a repair is demanded and then end up spending great amounts of time at that spot, not quite able to explain how all that time was spent, but greatly enjoying most of it.  What is different this time is that in the past we have left town with the repair made.

There is absolutely nothing easy about what we are doing.  Absolutely nothing.  As Amy describes it, "This is your dream, not mine".  Probably so, and thus I am not allowed to complain at all.  On the other hand, this is not Amy's dream, but she complains very little and very infrequently.

As testament to the amount of physical, mental and emotional effort required for our "adventure," since July I have lost a confirmed 7 inches off of my waist line and 45 pounds.  I'm down to a size 34, not sure what dress size that is.  Last night we found a scale and I weighed 90 kilos, or 198 pounds.  I have not weighed in at that level since college.  And it keeps on coming off.

November 20th at 15:30 CST is the time Calpurnia finally pulled away from the marina in Paradise Village.  We have traveled some 334 miles south-east to Zihuatanejo, Mexico. 

From that day until this morning we have been rushing at the brisk pace of 7 knots to get my mother to Z-town for her flight yesterday.  Calpurnia and its crew are finally tucked away today in a relatively calm anchorage with the much appreciated "free" WiFi internet.

At some point in the summer, it became clear that we were going to be staying in Puerto Vallarta until hurricane season is over.  Time has flown by and we are now starring at the end of the storm season which is November 1st.  The marina told us back in July that they were already sold out for the season, which starts November 1st and runs through April.  Come November 1st, we needed to be ready and willing to push off on down the road.

So here we are, about two weeks away and we have a long list of things which still needs to be done.

We had been looking forward to this past weekend for some time. It was to be our first Mexican holiday which we could participate in.

The Mexicans here find it humorous that Americans make such a big deal about Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) because it is has nothing to do with fighting the Spanish, but a seperate battle against the French which only lead to the final French victory and domination of Mexico by the French.